The Continuing Cryptocurrency Roller Coaster

The cryptocurrency market continues to fluctuate without settling into a steady rise or fall, as investors continue to hope that last week’s rise to over 8200 dollars is not just a fluke. Most investment firms believe that the 8200 dollar mark is the new resistance level, and a vital threshold to maintain and exceed. Traders and investors were heartened when bitcoin maxed out at 8500 on Monday, and it was noted that many other crypto coins were also rebounding, such as ONT (Ontology), TRX (Tron), and AST (AirSwap) — in some cases by as much as twenty percent.

The cyber token market has had a disappointing spring. Intense movement has occurred sporadically in a downward trend, always following bitcoin’s lead. Most analysts now say that the entire crypto coin market is tied to bitcoin prices — when bitcoin goes up, all others go up, and when bitcoin goes down, all other cryptocurrencies show a marked decline as well. In this sense cryptocurrency is following the iron law of regular stocks and bonds — when one major stock starts to decline, all others in that same bracket also go down. Conversely, when one type of stock goes up, most others in that same category also climb. This latest round of fluctuations has been felt substantially by cyrpto tokens like ICX (Icon), ZRX (Ox), and ICX.

However, this is not to say that the mirroring is exact. For instance, on May 21 there was a strong rebound. Bitcoin recorded a surprising four percent increase against the American dollar, while AST rose by a whopping fifteen percent, TRX went up by almost ten percent — as did ONT. bitcoin may be the standard all other cryptocurrencies are measured against, but it is no longer the coin with the biggest potential for profitability. With ICOs and crypto companies like Trecento, MillionCoin, and CGCX entering the arena on a regular basis, bitcoin becomes even further distanced from affecting the industry.

An interesting characteristic, and strength, of bitcoin and other cryptocurrencies is their relative insulation from the shocks that affect more traditional financial instruments such as stocks and bonds. For instance, when a trade war with China and other foreign countries seemed imminent, the stock market was immediately depressed — and when the likelihood of a trade war diminished, the stock market took a major leap. None of this, however, had any direct affect on the crypto coin market — it went its own independent way. It’s becoming clear that investment in cryptocurrency is not subject to the ups and down of the news cycle.

Wall Street is now convinced that the test level for bitcoin and all other cryptocurrencies on the market is at the ten thousand dollar level. Bitcoin strained to reach this level in early May, but was unable to find enough support to achieve that golden mean. This set all cryptocurrency price back as the month progressed.

Business journals now report that the United States Justice Department has launched yet another criminal probe of bitcoin. Most experts believe this action reflects Washington’s desire to straighten out the cryptocurrency roller coaster, and to protect consumers against ongoing misconduct by token scammers, who seem to delight in draining legitimate accounts as often as possible. The investigation will focus on bid rigging and manipulating the cryptocurrency market. What this will do to token prices is anybody’s guess at the moment.